This theory is long, so bear with me.  However, I am going to start by saying
this:  I must admit, I actually don’t
want it to turn out that Stiles is Red John.

Ever since the show started I have envisioned in my mind Red
John as being middle aged in his 40’s, with a younger looking face – deceptive given
his true demeanor… Quirky personality somewhat similar to Patrick’s in the
sense that he finds pleasure and amusement in everything he does – the difference
with Red John being his pleasure comes from murdering others… Almost light in a
sense, like Patrick a joker, but with the ability to turn into a monster.  Physically not imposing, sly, clever, and
quick as fox to get himself in and out of anywhere as quickly and silently as possible…


 



Which is why Stiles to me would actually come as a
disappointment.  I personally find him too
old to be Red John.  He’s too stern.  Too haughty. 
He doesn’t “blend” as well as I envisioned Red John doing.  He’s almost too obvious.  However, this is a completely subjective opinion,
and I am sure many people would love to see the cult leader be revealed as Red
Jon, and I must admit everything is pointing to good ol’ Bret.

 



For starters, his personality fits what Red John’s has developed
into over the show almost perfectly. 
Both Red John and Stiles are charismatic, deceptive, master
manipulators, and cruelly smart.  In
fact, Stiles is about the only one who is able to use his own intelligence,
manipulations, and charisma to give Patrick a run for his money.

 



As we have seen, Red John is able to coerce almost anybody into
doing his dirty work.  Even… brainwash
them, perhaps?  This is right up Stiles’
alley with him at the Helm of his creepy Visualize cult that does pretty much
exactly that – brainwash its followers. 
He has the power, money, and skill to gather such a huge collection of ‘disciples’
with an equally powerful, wealthy, and manipulative organization behind him to
back him up.  It would be easy to see how
someone of Stiles’ magnitude could operate such an organization that Red John
does with such dedicated followers.

 



Recall back to the pivotal episode where Ms. Martins let the
cat out of the proverbial bag by inadvertently telling Patrick something along
the lines of “You’re just like him.” And “I’m amazed the two of you didn’t
become best friends.”.  Well, call me
crazy, but Stiles is the only person on Patrick’s suspect list that is anywhere
close to Patrick’s own personality.  And given
the fact that they are so similar, I am surprised as well that the two aren’t
best buds.  Now, is it possible that Red
John is someone completely different who is just able to change his personality
into something different when interacting with Patrick?  Absolutely. 
And given the twists and turns of the show, and also the cleverness of
Red John, this isn’t an unlikely possibility. 
However, Stiles certainly fits what Lorelei had to say about the two of
them.

 



Continuing on, let’s take a look at a statement from one of
the show’s former writers, Ashley Gable. 
She stated that we have to look at Red John as a “where’s Waldo” figure;
someone who is in the background.  Well,
a quick hop onto The Mentalist Wiki brought me to this page: (http://thementalist.wikia.com/wiki/Where's_Waldo)
where this Waldo theory is expanded a little further.  The main thing I want to point out here is
the presence of a Waldo like individual in the season three finale –
Strawberries and Cream part two.  Take a
look at this video clip (the final sequence where Patrick shoots Timothy
Carter) : (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiWoXZn-gH8)
and pay particular attention to a man in a red top with black pants and a dark
ball cap chatting to one of the employees at the café in the mall.  Perhaps it’s just me, but I believe this man
looks like Sties.  I can see short white
hair from the back of the ball cap, which is the exact hairstyle Stiles has,
and this person certainly fulfills the “where’s Waldo” thing.  He also appears to be a bit older, fitting
Stiles again.  Now continue watching to
the very end, and you will see this same man running at the end after Patrick
has shot Carter.  He appears when the two
security guards are approaching Patrick, and the man can be seen running in a
slightly crouched position behind Patrick by the escalators.  Again, to me, this looks like Stiles.  Particularly the way he is running – I would
not expect an older gentleman like Stiles to be doing a full sprint – more of a
run like what we see the mystery man doing.





As I have previously stated, I do not really want to see
Stiles revealed as Red John, however there is certainly some good evidence
pointing towards him.  As another note,
what an irony it would be if Stiles was revealed to be Red John, as if I recall
correctly, in a very early episode Patrick actually said about Stiles that he “would
never hurt a fly.”

 

As one final thing I noticed, we also have to remember that
The Mentalist is and always has been a TV show.  The producers of the show had no idea how long
it would last – maybe ten seasons, maybe two seasons – and therefore they
probably had to pick somebody to be Red John during those first couple seasons to
cover their backsides in case the program went south and they had to wrap it up
sooner than expected.  Many of the
suspects on Patrick’s list were introduced in later seasons.  Stiles was introduced in Season Two.  Pretty early on.  Just yet another observation. 

The one thing that doesn’t work with Stiles
is the voice that we have heard Red John talking in.  I myself would not like to brag, but I am
pretty good with putting on accents and changing my voice (I do so frequently
in theatre and film productions).  I find
it hard to believe how we go from Stile’s rough and gruff slightly
British-accented voice to Red John’s high-pitched, smooth falsetto.  Now, perhaps Red John uses some sort of voice
changing software.  After all, we have
only heard him on the phone and under a mask where he could have hidden a voice
changer device.  Well, not quite.  Recall back to the episode where Red John
sends the little girl to Patrick in the cemetery.  When Patrick reveals what the girl said about
Red John, he says that she told him the man had an “odd voice”.  This would certainly describe the creepy high
pitched Red John voice, but this would mean no voice changing devices could
have been used as he talked face to face with the girl.  However, the girl could be saying that Stiles’
gruff sounding voice was odd as well, debunking this idea.

 



I realise that was a lot, but I think there are some things there that definitely point towards Stiles.  Regardless, it will be exciting to see what the 'big reveal' will bring, and this has been a great season so far.